10 Months.

Even though I'm taking a bit of a break from regular blogging at the moment until we get this whole house situation figured out, I couldn't let Grayson's "birthday" go by without recognizing it. It's so hard to believe that he's already been here for 10 months...time is going by in a flash these days. I can honestly say it's been the best 10 months of my life, by far. It's amazing how much joy this little guy brings to the lives of everyone around him. He's such a blessing! 

Oh. And it literally is impossible to get him to sit still for a photos now. I was getting frustrated, but this is just such a great idea of what he's like these days.

My baby boy,

Here we are again celebrating another month of life for you. The past month has been my favorite, just like I've said every single month before. The older you get the more fun you are - I seriously can't get enough of your crazy little personality. I just sit around and laugh at you all day. And you're getting to the age where you think it's hilarious to make people laugh, so we're having a fabulous time these days. So adorable.

You suddenly seem to have crossed over into big boy territory in the past few weeks. I feel like my little baby has almost totally grown up on me and has been replaced by this adorable boy with a silly personality. You giggle and laugh at the funniest things, and you are happy almost all day every day - unless I'm changing your diaper or making you get in the carseat, that is. 

You are crawling around like a crazy man these days, and if anyone comes to get you and you don't want to be got you are a quick little guy. You're also walking around holding on to things constantly, and you're one-handing things a lot of the time. You've let go and stood for a couple of seconds unassisted before you realize what you're doing...I'm thinking standing and walking won't be too far away. 

You still haven't technically said anything, but your baby talk is hilarious. It's becoming much more defined, and it sounds like you're speaking a foreign language. You still do a lot of "mamamama" "dadada", and I swear you know what you're saying, you're just too stubborn to actually say it on command. You're also a big fan of squealing and screaming - you like to have contests with your dad to see who can yell the loudest. When you yell you do a full body shake with your hands balled in little fists. One thing we've known about you from day one is that you are intense. 

Just in the last week or so you've started doing a couple of fun new things that everyone thinks are so adorable. You will now wave "hi" or "bye bye". Especially to yourself in the mirror. Pretty much anytime we walk by a mirror now you smile so big and wave your little hand up and down. You also will slap our hands when we say "give me five!". You can make the clapping sound every once in awhile and think it is so much fun. 

You're getting really good at doing things when I show you...but a lot of the time you would rather just learn things on your own. Two of your personality traits that seem to be shining through already are independence and impatience. I'm hoping we can figure out how to work on the patience thing soon, because your daddy and I neither one have much, and we definitely hope you don't follow in our foot steps on that one! But we're also pretty independent, so I'm glad you've inherited that one. 

You understand the word "no" for sure now. We're about 50/50 on whether you listen to it. Sometimes you immediately stop what you're doing - draw your hand back quick or drop whatever you have. And sometimes you bounce up and down really fast and then keep doing it. It seems like anytime you're doing anything "bad" you bounce up and down really hard. Not sure what that is, but it's pretty cute. Makes it more difficult to be upset with you.

Right now you are loving food. You completely and totally refused anything pureed, pretty much from day one, and really didn't have a ton of interest in eating for the most part. But oh my goodness, the last few weeks you suddenly seem to be starving. You went from wanting just a couple of bites of whatever it might be and being done to absolutely devouring whatever we give you. We pretty much give you whatever we're having, as long as it's baby-friendly. A few things you've really enjoyed lately are rice, edamame, sweet potato fries, and beans. And you love to drink water. I'm pretty careful about only giving you healthy things, but you do get the occasional french fry or hamburger if it's what we're having. I'm wondering if you'll be weaning yourself from breastfeeding soon, because you're showing less interest all the time, unless you're really hungry or sleepy. 

You still do so many things that melt my heart. You love my hair - I think it's your security blanket - and if you start twisting your little fingers in it and laying your head on my shoulder I know you are about ready to drift off. You've also started holding on to my fingers and hand more often, like when we're in the car. You actually linked your fingers through mine like we were actually holding hands a couple of days ago and I swear it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. You climb all over me all day long like I'm a jungle gym. About 90% of the time that I'm on the floor you are on my lap, wrapping your arms around my neck, twisting and turning. You give me open mouth kisses all the time and it is so adorably sweet. I remember seeing babies do that in past and thinking it was kind of gross, but I swear it's the most precious thing ever when you do it. 

This month you got FIVE teeth, all within a few days, and you handled it like a champ! There were just a couple of days where you had a little fever and were fussy, but for the most part you were your happy self. It's been probably three weeks since they started popping through, and you still seem to be having a lot of pain. We don't like to give you much medicine, so you get the homeopathic teething gel a few times a day and tyelenol if you really seem to be in pain. You bite EVERYTHING right now though, and I can't blame you. I can't imagine how bad it must hurt to have all those tiny teeth attacking your mouth at once!

Your favorite things are playing tug of war with Addie (she actually plays with you sometimes now!), getting into everything you can get your hands on, opening and closing things (toys, drawers, lids, etc.), eating, taking a bath, wrestling around and goofing off with Daddy, making silly noises and making us laugh, and being a daredevil. You still hate diaper changes and having your clothes changed, and you especially hate your carseat right now since you've spent so much time in it going to look at houses!

You are an absolute doll of a baby, and you make me happy all day every day. I think you are seriously the cutest, sweetest, funniest baby in the world, and I absolutely love the little boy you're becoming. I'm trying my best to cherish every single second with you, because I can already see how fast it's all going to go. You are my favorite. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Mama